


Bellator in Somnio

by Silvereye



Series: Avengers magica [2]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magika | Puella Magi Madoka Magica
Genre: Gen, Memory Alteration, Unreliable Narrator
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-16
Updated: 2016-05-16
Packaged: 2018-06-08 17:39:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,026
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6866500
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silvereye/pseuds/Silvereye
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>James fights Nightmares. This is easy, until he starts hallucinating someone he does not recognize. It recognizes him. Probably.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bellator in Somnio

**Author's Note:**

> This story is based on Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Puella Magi Madoka Magica the Movie: Rebellion. Because of this, it is only a loose sequel to Sis Avenger magica and can be read separately.

**One.**

There are days with few Nightmares and there are days with many. The patterns get easy to see after hunting them for a few months. Today, for example, is a day with few. James goes out alone. It is his turn.

It is not difficult to finish this batch off. Nightmares fight well, but they are not particularly intelligent.

He goes back to their apartment. Samuel has made dinner. Judging by Natalia's expression she was forbidden from helping. Her ankle is sprained, whether she agrees with this fact or not.

This is domestic. But they all deserve a little domesticity.

 

**Two.**

James is washing the dishes when he sees him. Just out of the corner of his eye.

There is no one else in the kitchen. But when he turns his eyes back at the sink, at the four plates in it, he sees him again. Solid, like a person. Male. Taller than him, built like a brickhouse, utterly unfamiliar.

Not there when James is looking at him directly.

There, in the corner of his eye. He looks sad and terrified and this fills James with unease.

Seeing things is always a bad sign, right?

 

**Three.**

James keeps his hallucinations from Natalia and Samuel. It doesn't feel right to make them worry. And it's just something he sees. Nothing serious. It's not like he's acting according to what his new imaginary friend tells him or anything. It's not like the hallucination says anything, ever, at all.

But he keeps being there.

He stands among Nightmares when James is fighting, but they pass through him. He stands besides James when he's watching TV. It should probably be creepy. But the guy is just so _sad_.

James is carrying the groceries home. The apparition is stepping beside him, looking at him with these blue melancholy eyes every once in a while. James is half tempted to try to give one bag to him, just to see what would happen.

The apparition steps closer and reaches out his hand and suddenly James is scared.

"What do you want?" he hisses.

The apparition backs away and disappears. James looks around, checking if someone saw him talking to thin air. Naturally not.

 

**Four.**

The apparition is there again the next time James is out fighting Nightmares with Natalia. She shoots a Nightmare. The bullet passes the apparition so close he has to feel the wind of its passing. No flinch. No reaction. He only looks at James.

Inches closer.

James kicks at the apparition. He doesn't hit anything, but his leg arcs through a warmer spot in the air. The apparition looks down miserably.

Natalia is saying something. James shakes his head and the warmth slides off his mind like too-thick snow from slanted roof.

"I said,“ Natalia repeats patiently, "do you want to get Starbucks on the way home.“

They get Starbucks. Plain coffees for Natalia and James, a cappucino for Samuel, a chai for – 

For?

James doesn't know. Natalia pays for all drinks like there's nothing wrong.

 

**Five.**

The bus is empty on their way home. 

The bus has always been empty on their way home.

 

**Six.**

James resolves to keep his eye on the chai. Still there when they're climbing the stairs. Still there when he's unlocking the apartment door. Still there when Natalia puts the drinks on the counter to shake off her boots.

The apparition stares at James from the corner.

Something slides through James' mind like a snake, like a knife, he remembers mountainpeaks and waiting and someone's hand on his shoulder. It is not an unpleasant memory, but something in him twists as if it were. For a moment he sees – _something else_ – and then Samuel is shaking his shoulder.

"You okay?“

"Yes.“ No.

Samuel does not believe him, but James is not going to say anything more. He retreats to the bedroom with his coffee and thinks he forgot something.

 

**Seven.**

James blinks awake. It's four in the morning. His bedroom is quiet and dark, but he thinks he can hear either Natalia or Samuel in the kitchen.

A white cat is sitting outside the window, watching him.

He creeps out of bed and stares at the cat through glass. It's not very catlike, actually. Ears too floppy, tail too fluffy, eyes too red. Its face does not move, but James thinks it is smiling somehow. Or laughing.

Kyubey. No. A Kyubey. There are many of them.

How does he know this?

"I made a contract,“ he whispers slowly. He hasn't known, has not remembered this until now, and yet it's overwhelming. The contract makes him something other than human, it seeps into every aspect and crack of his life.

He's suddenly cold.

"I made a contract to... to fight...“

Kyubey stares at him and keeps not-laughing. James opens the window, lunges. The Kyubey is too quick and disappears into the maze of roofs. James stares after it. He could give chase, but it seems unlikely he'd actually catch it. 

For the first time he notices that it's not actually much colder outside than it is in his room. He's freezing, he has always been freezing, and yet he never paid attention to this. What is happening?

He made a contract. And it was not to fight Nightmares.

 

**Eight.**

Natalia is on her feet before James has time to even enter the kitchen. She always had the best reflexes of them all.

"James?“ she asks.

"Why is this city so cold?“ He tries to keep them both in his field of view. One of them is the enemy. Probably. There aren't that many other candidates, really.

The city is near empty, after all.

Natalia smiles slowly and sadly. "So you've noticed.“

"We should all be dead of hypothermia.“

"Yes.“

"Something is...“ wrong. It's obvious. James' vision twists again, he remembers a shadowed room and pain and his mouth says of its own accord, "Someone is missing.“

Natalia and Samuel exchange glances.

"Someone here is a witch.“ The temperature drops another degree. The word "witch“ is apparently enough to freeze anything. Naturally. These creatures shouldn't exist.

"Natalia?“ James asks miserably, because it can't be either of his friends and yet, if it has come to this, he will trust Samuel a hair's breadth more.

"It's not her,“ Samuel says.

James turns to him. Samuel is looking back, for once unsmiling. James sees the Kyubey behind him, behind the window. It is smiling for two.

No.

Oh, no.

 

**Nine.**

"It can't be me,“ James says, but now he's shivering, all the cold creeping into him.

"You're not a witch,“ the Kyubey says, somehow standing in front of him. James does not know how or when it entered the room. Natalia is staring at it, visibly planning murder. "You're almost one, trapped mid-transformation.“

"The person you're missing is Steve,“ Natalia (Natalia?) says. James shakes his head. He doesn't know any Steves.

"He overestimated himself.“ Samuel (Samuel?) says. "Thought he could rewrite the past. Save you. We told him it didn't work like that. No matter what he is now, some things he still can't do.“

"We didn't think you could actually capture him,“ Natasha says.

Steve. The apparition. Of course. "Why did I do this?“

"You wanted to protect him.“ Sam says.

"It's admirable, really.“ The Kyubey hasn't moved. "You're a simple human and he's the new Law. I don't know how he can stay inside your barrier, it's much too small for someone like him. Especially because it's not even a full witch's barrier. He'll get stunted. But it was very admirable of you to try to save him.“

James remembers the mountainpeaks again, cold like death, colder even than this room, and someone's firm hand on his shoulder. It's the only warm thing in the memory. Steve's. Of course it is Steve's.

It's so simple. "I can't let that happen.“

Natalia starts, shoots the Kyubey, swears, but James doesn't notice it any more. He closes his eyes and lets the cold flow in.

 

**Devyat'**

Steve shivers and coughs.

"Well, that went well,“ Natasha remarks, pulling him to his feet.

Nothing seems to have changed. The kitchen is still cozy, except for the biting cold. The city behind the windows looks normal, the sky above it clear and full of sharp stars. It does not remind Steve of any witch's labyrinth that he's seen.

Bucky is a witch now. But can that be considered a change, given how he died?

Steve stands. Sways. He's not strictly used to having legs any more and his balance is not what it once was. Sam steps closer, steadying him.

"You okay?“ he asks after Steve has stopped wobbling.

Steve exhales, shakes his head. Of course he isn't.

Nothing is all right any more.

 

**Vosem'**

"I wanted to save him,“ Steve says miserably, curled around his tea.

"We know.“ Natasha's voice is so quiet, so sympathetic. It still scrapes Steve's ears. He's not used to the necessities and inevitabilities of physical existence any more. Adjusting is not an instantaneous process.

They have gathered in the living room. Sam stands watch near the windows. The witch has not attacked them so far. This does not mean it will not.

Steve steels himself. He is still the Law, so he has to be the one to say the unpleasant truth out loud. "I will have to fight him.“

"Yes,“ Natasha says.

Steve still can't bring himself to say what should come next.

"If you try to use any of your abilities as the Law in here, you'll betray them to Kyubeys,“ Sam says. He doesn't turn around. "They'll learn. Find countermeasures. Back to the bad old days.“

"We can't stay in here forever. As long as you're here, it leeches your power. It might make it as strong as you would have been. Who knows what it's doing in the outside world.“

"His name is Bucky!“ Steve snaps, more angrily than he meant to.

"Is it still?“ Natasha asks.

Steve looks away. "I can't kill him.“

"You will have to stop him,“ Sam says, not unsympathetic.

 

**Sem'**

They find the witch several days later. It is not hard to miss, once they've noticed it, but so far it has avoided the city itself, stalking the perimeter of the barrier like a thundercloud. It really is like a thundercloud from the distance, taller than skyscrapers, mountainous and dark as a shadow. It looks nothing like Bucky.

They can see the familiars from the distance, moving around the witch in almost sensible patterns. These at least are small, human-sized.

"Leave the familiars to us,“ Natasha says. She and Sam are already suited up. Only Steve is still in civilian clothes.

"Okay.“ He still can't believe that that shadowy giant is Bucky. There is no resemblance at all.

He looked different, way back when.

Natasha hugs him. A second later Sam joins her. They are two spots of warmth in ever-present, already deeply familiar cold. Steve hugs back and when they let go, he changes.

"Let's go,“ he says.

 

**Shest'**

The witch is exactly as huge as it looked from the distance. Steve climbs the highest nearby building, throws himself at the empty space and lands on what might be the witch's shoulder. The witch does not seem to notice him at all.

Steve climbs. It's as if this is a barrier within a barrier, a created, unliving thing instead of an alive body. He scrambles over an expanse of something not unlike glass and finds a door.

To enter would be reckless. He does it anyway.

The interior is a large echoing space full of diffuse light. It is a few degrees warmer here than it is outside. There are walkways here and there, and a central column stretching through the entire height of the room. Steve notices a control panel embedded in the column. It has to mean something, even if it is unlikely to actually control anything.

Steve is two steps away from the panel when he feels the walkway shiver under his feet.

It's Bucky. His eyes are cold and certain and there is no recognition in them, but of course it is Bucky.

"I don't want to fight you.“

Bucky does not answer, just hits harder than he ever did before. Steve staggers back. Something crashes, far, far away. He can see the falling sparks and glass shards from the corner of his eye. He has used none of his powers as the Law, has not even landed a hit on Bucky and the world is still breaking into pieces around him.

He parries the next strike, but it's a half-hearted maneuver. When Bucky tackles him and they fall off the walkway he does not struggle.

 

**Pyat'**

He has certainly broken something. Several somethings. Bucky kneels above him and Steve can feel what little power he has slowly draining into Bucky. This may kill him, if his injuries don't do it first.

He reaches out, tries to touch Bucky's face. Bucky catches his hand in an iron grip. Stares at it, but does not crush it like he could.

 

**Chetyre**

Steve has exactly one trick left. It's not a Law ability. Just a plain old Avenger one.

"I'm with you until the end of the line,“ he whispers. He can feel blood bubbling on his lips.

He inhales, exhales, inhales again and reaches for the darkness that makes Bucky a witch. If he could be full Law he could channel it away. Since he's only slightly more than human here it has nowhere to go. It gathers in him, curls around his heart, chokes his lungs. 

This is a convenient fiction, given that his body is nothing but a puppet. It still hurts. Oh Law, it hurts.

Bucky stares at him with uncomprehending eyes. He's still draining Steve's power, but now something of it flows back with the darkness.

 

**Tri**

Steve can pinpoint the exact moment his and Bucky's states equalize.

For one, Bucky jerks back, something like recognition flashing over his face. He lets go of Steve's hand, raises his own hand to his lips as if it were burned. There is nothing of the cold certainty in him any more.

For another, the glass floor of the witch-shell shatters into millions of pieces. They fall. Steve turns his head, sees a river far below.

He is still the Law. What little energy he has left cannot sustain his consciousness. His eyes fall shut and everything fades long before he hits water.

 

**Dva**

An Avenger cannot drown. Water has to be very deep to harm the Soul Gem, it's more of a crushing than drowning and an average river is nowhere near enough.

Staying underwater for more than a few minutes would still be rather unpleasant. Avenger or not, lungs full of water are uncomfortable to empty.

Steve sinks, but he never quite hits the bottom.

 

**Odin**

Steve is crumpled on the riverbank when Sam and Natasha find him. He's curled on his left side, the sand around him trampled and bloody. Some of the blood is obviously his, having trickled from the cuts on his face or back and merged with the sand. Not all can be. There is simply too much of it.

Natasha kneels and checks for a pulse. No one knows if or how the Law could die. 

The pulse is there, slow and shallow, but existing nonetheless.

Sam offers a hand to help her get up. Natasha shakes her head. The battle was not easy on either of them, but Sam was able to dodge more, airborne as he was.

"Now what?“ Natasha asks wearily.

"Now I call an ambulance.“ Sam walks a short distance away and makes the call.

Natasha sits and takes Steve's hand. It is cold and clammy. Whether this is because of his trip through the river, blood loss or something else, she cannot say.

 

**null**

The Kyubey cowers.

The man walks closer, crouches and smiles. It is not a kind smile.

"You will leave him alone,“ he says. "I seem to be a god, or something close enough. Guess that means I make rules. And rule number one is: you leave him alone.“

"What is he to you?“ the Kyubey asks.

The man shrugs. "Don't know. Don't care. Mine. Is that understood?“

"Yes,“ the Kyubey says grudgingly. "We will leave him alone.“

 

**null**

The first thing Steve notices is the warmth. He floats in it a long while before he has energy for anything else.

The second thing he notices is the music. Sam's.

"Your left,“ Steve rasps. This is already too much effort. He feels Sam brushing his hair away from his face, but he cannot hold on to consciousness and drifts back into the warmth.

He does not know how much time passes before he wakes again. This time he is awake enough to accept a few sips of water before he has to fall back against the pillows.

"Bucky?“ he asks.

"Alive and not a witch. Natasha is looking for him.“ Sam gives him a firm look, or tries to, he's smiling too brightly for it to be effective. "Get some rest.“

Steve obeys.

 

**null**

Natasha finds Bucky in a park, standing on a bridge. He has to hear her approaching, but does not react in any way.

Natasha hesitates and then steps onto the bridge, stands beside him and leans on the railing.

Bucky's face is impassive.

"What was that?“ Natasha asks. She is not sure what she's referring to, but then, neither is he.

"I don't know,“ Bucky says.

"What did you do to Steve?“

"I got him out of the river.“ He frowns. It's the first expression Natasha has seen on him after he became a witch. "That's not all, is it.“

"No.“

Bucky is quiet for a while. Natasha becomes aware of the fact that he's radiating cold. It's not obvious, as the day is sunless and cool, but one side of her face is definitely colder than the other.

"I don't know what happened,“ Bucky says. He is terribly, painfully earnest now. "But I will protect him. I promise.“


End file.
